Ray Weapons in Eberron (3.5e Other)

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The artificers of Eberron have developed an entirely new class of weapon. Rather than relying on magically-sharpened blades or flaming arrows, they have developed weapons that harness the power of magic itself, unleashing it in devastating rays and beams.

A ray weapon is treated as a magical weapon (and a masterwork one), and can be enhanced normally with an enhancement bonus and special qualities. A ray weapon’s enhancement bonus applies to any ranged touch attacks made with it as well as to any damage rolls made with it, if there is any (if a ray weapon has a dice roll other than damage, such as the death ray’s negative levels or the healing from a wandgun loaded with a healing wand, the enhancement bonus does not apply to it). Any special qualities applied to a ray weapon apply normally to any attacks made with it, with one exception–qualities that deal damage, such as flaming or icy do not apply to ray weapons that do not deal damage. It is possible to create a +1 flaming implosion cannon, but creating a +1 icy death ray would be useless.

Charging a ray weapon is a move action, and the character charging the ray weapon must be able to touch it. However, once charged, the ray weapon will function for any wielder–not just the character who charged it. A spell cast from a wand, scroll, or similar magic item can be used to charge a ray weapon. In addition, some ray weapons are built with a chamber into which a pearl of power can be placed. The wielder can take a move action to recharge the weapon using the extra spell slot the pearl would normally allow them to recover (even if they cannot normally cast spells of that level).

Most characters treat ray weapons as Exotic Weapons, and must take the Exotic Weapon Proficiency feat to become proficient. However, a character with the Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Firearms) feat, or who has both the Craft Magic Arms and Armor and Craft Wondrous Item feats instead treats all ray weapons as martial weapons. Firing a death ray is a standard action. A ray weapon can be held and fired with one hand, unless otherwise specified. Ray weapons are extremely complex magical power sources, and as such require both the Craft Magic Arms and Armor feat and the Craft Wondrous Item feat to create.
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Summary::A rare nonlethal ray weapon, ''forceweb cannons'' are useful for manhunters and city watchman alike. Bulky cannons of steel and silver, their weight is such that they require two hands to aim and fire, although they can be held in one hand. Rather than firing an actual ray, a forceweb cannon fires out a net of magical force with a range of 40 ft., which requires a ranged touch attack to hit. An enemy hit by a net of force is entangled in it. A DC 20 Escape Artist check can be made to escape from the net, but it cannot be damaged or burst. However, dispel magic or disintegrate, along with similar effects, will negate the net of force. The nets of force dissipate after 3 rounds.

Summary::With your ''freeze ray'', you can stop the world. Elegant and elongated, these mithral ray weapons can halt a being in time. Their weight is such that they require two hands to aim and fire, although they can be held in one hand. A freeze ray fires a ripping cerulean cascade, with a range of 60 ft. An enemy hit by the ray must make a Fortitude save, DC 18 + the wielder's highest mental ability score, or be frozen in time, as the temporal stasis spell. The stasis lasts for ten minutes. You may only place a single creature in stasis at a time with a freeze ray — firing it an additional time releases the previous target. Before it can be fired, a freeze ray must first be charged, as a move action. A single such charge lasts for 24 hours, allowing the ray to be fired without limit in that period.

{{#set:Summary=A ray weapon that can be loaded with, and fire, a single item of Fine size.}}
These simple ray weapons are actually modified, designed as weapons that can use anything as ammuniton. Intricate clockwork contraptions, they have an open chamber that can be loaded with a single item of Fine size as a move action. Firing the hand-trebuchet flings the loaded item up to 100 ft. away. If used to launch an item as ammunition, such as firing a stone or stick, the attack requires a ranged attack (not a ranged touch attack) to hit, and deals 1d4 damage. However, a hand-trebuchet can also be used to launch splash weapons such as alchemist's fire, the use they most often saw in the Last War. You still make an attack roll for the splash weapon as normal, but take no range penalties on the roll.

[[Summary::The single most powerful superweapon in all the Five Nations, the implosion cannon is more powerful iteration of the disintegration ray.]] Their weight is such that they require two hands to aim and fire, although they can be held in one hand. An implosion cannon fires an oscillating wave of green light, a ray with a range of 300 ft. that deals 40d6 damage. A Fortitude save, DC 16 + the firer’s highest mental ability modifier, reduces the damage to 5d6. All creatures and objects within 5 ft. of the target take 20d6 damage, and may attempt a Fortitude save to reduce the damage to 1d6. All creatures and objects within 10 ft. of the target take 10d6 damage, and may attempt a Fortitude save to negate the damage. Before it can be fired, an implosion cannon must first be charged, as a move action. A single such charge lasts for 24 hours, allowing the cannon to be fired without limit in that period.

Summary::This odd weapon is useful for disarming foes without harming them. A rust-colored ray, it fires a rippling silver beam, with a range of 40 ft. A non-magical metal item weighing up to 35 lbs. can be melted by the ray if it is struck, becoming a liquid and flowing like water for one round. After that round, it re-solidifies in the form of a solid metallic puddle, rendered completely useless. This does not change the temperature of the metal. An item in the possession of a creature may attempt a DC 16 Will save to avoid being melted, using its wielder's saving throw bonus in place of its own unless its own is higher. Before it can be fired, a melting ray must first be charged, as a move action. A single such charge lasts for 24 hours, allowing the ray to be fired without limit in that period.

{{#set:Summary=A weapon that permanently shrinks its target to Fine-size.}}
Developed by an obsessive-compulsive gnomish artificer, this weapon never saw much use outside of the laboratory, but despite that, it is a potent magical weapon. Despite its function, the ray weapon itself is large and somewhat bulbous, a claptrap mechanism of patched-together iron. The shrink ray fires a crackling blue-and-yellow burst of sparks, a ray with a range of 50 ft. An enemy hit by the ray must make a Fortitude save, DC 15 + the wielder's highest mental ability score, or be shrunk, permanently, to Fine size. They take a penalty to their Strength, Constitution, and natural armor, but gain a bonus to their Dexterity (the penalties to Strength and Constitution cannot reduce the score below 1). The penalties and bonus depend on the creature's original size, as below:

Original Size

Str

Dex

Con

Natural Armor

Colossal

-42

+12

-18

-14

Gargantuan

-34

+12

-14

-9

Huge

-26

+12

-10

-5

Large

-18

+10

-6

-2

Medium

-10

+8

-2

-0

Small

-6

+6

-0

-0

Tiny

-2

+4

-0

-0

Diminutive

-0

+2

-0

-0

Fine

-0

-0

-0

-0

A character shrunk by a shrink ray can be restored to full size by a greater restoration spell. Incorporeal or gaseous creatures are immune to the shrink ray, and a creature with the shapechanger subtype can revert to its natural size as a standard action. Before it can be fired, a shrink ray must first be charged, as a move action. A single such charge lasts for 24 hours, allowing the ray to be fired without limit in that period.

{{#set:Summary=A bizarre weapon that fires a bound fiend into a victim, allowing the fiend to possess them.}}
A truly bizarre weapon, the six-demon gun is an experimental ray that never saw battlefield use. Only a few prototypes exist, locked away in magical vaults or lying unused in arcane laboratories. A six-demon gun is loaded with Khyber dragonshards containing bound fiends, and fires the fiends into its victims, allowing them to possess them. A six-demon gun can hold six ammunition shards at a time, and all six can be loaded into it as a move action. A six-demon gun fires an invisible ray through which a bound fiend may possess the target. If the ray hits, the target must save against possession, as per the rules on page 100 of the Eberron Campaign Setting. The save has a DC of 20. The possession follows the normal rules for fiendish possession. The possessing fiend is not under the wielder’s control, and may act as it chooses–which may include possessing the target as an ally to help it kills its wielder. The exact alignment and behavior of the fiend are left to the DM; their behavior tends to be erratic, but rarely overtly dangerous to the six-demon gun's wielder. The possessing fiends have the following (abridged) statistics:

The fiends bound in the ammunition shards are not proper demons, but rather shards of fiendish essence created by binding and torturing an evil extraplanar being and shattering its essence into smaller shards. They are incapable of existence outside of a Khyber dragonshard or their possessed victim. If forced out of either, they are immediately destroyed. Khyber dragonshards must be forged separately from the six-demon gun to be used as ammunition. Once a shard has been used, its energy is expended, rendering it useless.

{{#set:Summary=Allows a wand to be slotted into a gun, granting attacks with the wand the benefit of any enhancement bonus or special ability that the gun has.}}
No arsenal of wands is complete without a wandgun, a compact ray weapon whose design ranges widely, based on the aesthetic of the artificer who created it. Aundairian wandguns are typically sleek and elegant chrome affairs, while Brelish models tend to be a plain gunmetal piece. As a move action, any wand that contains a spell requiring a ranged touch attack can be slotted into a wandgun (or removed from one). Once this is done, the wand can be triggered through the wandgun, allowing it to benefit from any enhancement bonus or special abilities it has. This is otherwise treated as casting the spell from the wand normally for all purposes.